LANSING - A long-awaited monument to Michigan police officers who've died in the line of duty could be erected in downtown Lansing as early as fall 2019 after lawmakers put up the last dollars needed to break ground.

The project could break ground as early as spring 2019 and be wrapped up six months later, said Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget. The commission that oversees the project is expected to meet this week with the monument's designers, he said.

The 2019 allocation ends an odyssey more than a dozen years in the making. The project got underway with much fanfare, earning a visit in 2006 from then-U.S. Sen. John Kerry. But, fundraising was stymied by the Great Recession and other issues and the commission was forced to scale back the scope of the monument.